City police in DC are about to get a lot more firepower. Thanks to military surplus, the Metropolitan Police Department is converting hundreds of military automatic weapons into semi-automatic rifles and hopes to have many of them deployed on city streets within the next month.So how much time until the conversions are complete and we reverse DC government's stated goal of getting more guns off the street? And these are the same people who won't let you keep a handgun in your home?
My first thought was that doesn't leave much time for training--particularly in urban warfare tactics, which is essentially what they'll be used for. Y'know, just because you give some yutz a rifle doesn't mean he'll know how to deploy in the variety of scenarios he'll encounter--and just as importantly, when not to.
Figures the FOP, who froth at the mouth about how home-as-refuge protections will endanger their precious hindquarters, would be on board with this for all the "more equal" animals.
And here's a speculation worth peeling back and looking under, from Len Savage:
M-16 minus auto sears are semi auto? I thought that they are machine guns? [as in frame or receiver of MG]
Without a proper ATF form 5 [tax free transfer to law enforcement], these are contraband according to ATF.
One could only know if one looked at the "converted" firearm....
9 comments:
If this isn't an admission that gun control does not work, I don't know what is. Why does D.C. need ASSAULT RIFLES on a forcibly unarmed populace?
I have to say, the DC police (and gov) frighten me more than just about any police force I've ever encountered (short of those in the USSR, although fortunately my encounters with them were pretty limited and generally with a Marine nearby!) On my walk in to work, I almost always see cars getting towed by the DC government, because their parking meters have, in faded red letters separate from the normal instructions, 'do not park during rush hour' (no hours specified). And don't get me started on how they've refitted the right to trial to allow for speedy processing of video camera tickets!
Quite likely this is going to end with some officer firing a couple 5.56 bullets through one of those nice rowhouses. If he's lucky, he'll only hit the neighbors' possessions. If not, well... We've seen enough articles about five-year-old girls getting hit in drive-by shootings with measly 9mm bullets from handguns that don't penetrate half as far.
This has the potential to put down a few more bad guys, and also to absolutely explode in the face of the DC government. It's just a shame that law-abiding citizens too poor and too foolish to live elsewhere are going to be caught in the crossfire.
I guess their consolation is, if the city of DC does go into justified protests, only the criminals will have firearms sufficient to pose a threat to the police in their armored trucks and 'military grade' black rifles.
How would that be illegal and considered a machine gun. All old colt AR15s were identical to M16s minus the sears and you could drop in a sear in theory if you had one. Mine is newer (1999?) and by then they had made a change so you cannot drop in sear. So does that mean everyone that owns an old AR15 has a machine gun? That makes no sense.
brutus,
Ask David Olofson. Apparently, everyone with an old AR15 does have a machinegun (according to the ATF). Whether or not it's supposed to be fully automatic is irrelevant (according to the Judge).
The explanation I read says an out-of-the-box Model 1911 .45 pistol that EVER fires double and then jams is also a machine gun. A double-barrel shotgun whose both barrels touch off when ONE trigger is pulled is a machine gun.
Also any of these that MIGHT, with the proper encouragement by an ATF lab investigator.
Have I misunderstood? I really hope I have.
It appears that one can be imprisoned for modifying with INTENT to evade gun laws, PLANNING to modify, or, now, for an ACCIDENT or MALFUNCTION that causes a non-standard mode of operation even once, with NO intent or mods present.
That about covers it all.
Remember that the whole Waco thing came about because a neighbor THOUGHT they heard full-auto fire and no one at Mt. Carmel was a registered MG owner.
A semi-auto can fire as fast as a finger can flick on the trigger. People not familiar with semis often describe it as "automatic weapon fire."
People shouldn't go to jail or die over that.
From Len Savage
To Brutus:
That is exactly what the ATF, Judge, and Jury is saying, ANY firearm that fires more than one round, as there is no exemption in the statute for a "malfunction".
ATF claims that Us v. Staples is mere dicta, in that: Olofson was charges with illegal transfer, not possession as in Staples.
If you own an AR-15 with an auto sear hole that is not "tax paid" and on the National Registry, you ARE in felony possession territory. DCM rifles the M-14 semi version, though sold by the government, have put people in court [US v. Kwan].
Could have been me... used to have a Chinese AK UF with a super buttery trigger.. just the right finger tension and it would bump off 2-3 rounds at full cyclic rate. Good thing I only ever shot it at a private range among actual class III shooters.... I'M GUILTY !
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